I have 55W 8000k's installed on my 2011 HL and IT SUCKS.
The cut off and beam pattern is all jacked up. Prior to installing them, the halogen bulbs was adjusted fine; I figured with the longer length HID bulbs I might have to tweak it a tiny bit, but didn't realize it would be this off.
Now, I've had plenty of HID kits (35W and 55W) in halogen based projectors on various cars and motorcycles and I've never had this much of a messed up lighting. Is it just the HL's projectors?
Is it because the 55W kit has so much light it's being distorted in the projector?
I've had to adjust my lights downwards by 3 full turns on the dial and it's still throwing a weird pattern. Basically it looks like a smile (lower in the middle, higher on the outside), which causes glare to other drivers, not to mention wasting a lot of usable light. I also have the "squirrel spotters" where there are 2 "boxes" of light above the cut-off.
Any way to fix my problem, and how do you others deal with it when you add HID kits?
I know I know, I searched already and read everything up to this point, but nothing that quite matches my problem.
*edit* Yes the bulbs are installed correctly and are fully seated. I heard there are "flaps" on the inside of the projector, which some have pushed down to avoid the extra reflection of light which causes the "squirrel spotters" but some have said that is not a fix.
*edit2* I must have missed a recent thread from yesterday that kind of delves on this problem. Still, any input is appreciated!
Last edited by R1ceRocket; 09-13-2011 at 03:29 AM.
the flaps on the cutoff shield are what create the squirrel spotters. You can push them down so they are flush with the cutoff shield (with a screwdriver through the bulb opening), but I've read somewhere that it can mess up the projector (I'm not sure but I'm not positive it won't at the same time, I've heard it can and can't hurt it). A halogen filament acts differently than a HID arc emitting light in a projector so your not going to get the exact same beam pattern even if its the same bulb socket type. gtzany is right though, pictures showing the problem will help.
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2008 Black Highlander Limited FWD
Nav (with override), Rear DVD | 900+ Watt Sound System | Headlight & Fog HID Projector Retrofit | LED Interior/Puddle Lights | Rattletrap Sound Deadener | Dueler HL Alenzas 255/55R19's |Updated Modification List
The upwards curve on the outside is what is killing me. It causes the light to shine up in the faces of people driving by.
That is definitely an issue. guytdt's hid conversion does it some as well (from his picture in the other thread), though it is not nearly as bad as yours. That's not the return wire messing with it as there is uniform brightness. I can only think that the bulb is way off. By that I mean it is not seated correctly inside the projector. It might be seated in the socket, but the actual glass tube is mis-aligned. Projectors are EXTREMELY picky on where the light source is within the bowl and if its barely off, it can cause the curve. I had a similar issue when I retrofited my headlights. The bulb wasn't aligned and it caused a weird cutoff and hotspot.
The driver side looks worse than the passenger side so you can test to see if it is the actual bulb's not aligned correctly. Switch the bulbs from side to side and see if it makes the passenger side bad like the driver side was before. If it does you got an alignment problem.
If so there are 2 options. You can either create a spacer to tilt the bulb in the socket(what I did to fix my misalignment problem, basically guessing and checking, major PITA ), or contact the person who sold you the kit and request replacement bulbs.
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2008 Black Highlander Limited FWD
Nav (with override), Rear DVD | 900+ Watt Sound System | Headlight & Fog HID Projector Retrofit | LED Interior/Puddle Lights | Rattletrap Sound Deadener | Dueler HL Alenzas 255/55R19's |Updated Modification List
That is definitely an issue. guytdt's hid conversion does it some as well (from his picture in the other thread), though it is not nearly as bad as yours. That's not the return wire messing with it as there is uniform brightness. I can only think that the bulb is way off. By that I mean it is not seated correctly inside the projector. It might be seated in the socket, but the actual glass tube is mis-aligned. Projectors are EXTREMELY picky on where the light source is within the bowl and if its barely off, it can cause the curve. I had a similar issue when I retrofited my headlights. The bulb wasn't aligned and it caused a weird cutoff and hotspot.
The driver side looks worse than the passenger side so you can test to see if it is the actual bulb's not aligned correctly. Switch the bulbs from side to side and see if it makes the passenger side bad like the driver side was before. If it does you got an alignment problem.
If so there are 2 options. You can either create a spacer to tilt the bulb in the socket(what I did to fix my misalignment problem, basically guessing and checking, major PITA ), or contact the person who sold you the kit and request replacement bulbs.
Thanks for the advice! I thought it might be a problem like that because I was pushing the bulb base downwards (in the housing) and it evened out the light pattern somewhat. You might be right and the bulbs are off.
I was thinking maybe I need to put some type of spacer to offset the bulb, but I'll contact the seller of the kit first; maybe she'll send out a new set.
on my motorcycle 2006 r1. i put 55w 6k hids in the stock projector housings. they have been there since around 4000 miles and now i have just under 8900 miles. no problem with them causing any problem. as for the output; it is very clean cut. so i dont believe that the 55w hids are causing the "smile" to appear, i just believe thats how the projector was made. does that output come when you have halogens as well ?
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2004 Rav4 I4 FWD
Mileage-21004 as of 8/23/11
on my motorcycle 2006 r1. i put 55w 6k hids in the stock projector housings. they have been there since around 4000 miles and now i have just under 8900 miles. no problem with them causing any problem. as for the output; it is very clean cut. so i dont believe that the 55w hids are causing the "smile" to appear, i just believe thats how the projector was made. does that output come when you have halogens as well ?
I, too, have 55W 6000k HID's in my 2007 R1 (very similar halogen projector set-up), and it's absolutely perfect. The cut-off is so damn crisp, it actually sucks at night when taking on-ramp curves.
In any case, I think sweeneyp is right; it's probably the bulb that is faulty, or I just need to retrofit a small spacer to offset the bulb in the housing.
The output with regular halogen bulbs just just fine, so you're right, the projectors or the 55W ballasts aren't the problem...the bulb is likely the culprit.
I don't think you can space them or tilt them easily since it twist then turn H11. If you space them you cannot twist. Guess there is a way I don't know?
For D2S you just put it in and lock it. With this you can space it easily.
I notice you have it curve up to the sides a lot.
I have it too but nothing compares to yours.
Since I got HL for less than a week, I don't want to make a major overhaul. But next Spring time, I will remove headlight, bake open and take a close look at the projector. I think I can modify the shield or replace the projector with something else. I retrofitted my civic in the past so I think I can handle it. But since the stock projector is not too bad to me I'm still not sure if I want to replace projector or not.
I don't think you can space them or tilt them easily since it twist then turn H11. If you space them you cannot twist. Guess there is a way I don't know?
For D2S you just put it in and lock it. With this you can space it easily.
I notice you have it curve up to the sides a lot.
I have it too but nothing compares to yours.
Since I got HL for less than a week, I don't want to make a major overhaul. But next Spring time, I will remove headlight, bake open and take a close look at the projector. I think I can modify the shield or replace the projector with something else. I retrofitted my civic in the past so I think I can handle it. But since the stock projector is not too bad to me I'm still not sure if I want to replace projector or not.
Yeah, there isn't much way to put any type of spacing in there because it's a twist and lock bulb, but I think I can manage to put some electrical tape in there a little bit to create some space, even if it's just a millimeter.
But, good news, the seller of the HID kit (whom I highly recommend: http://www.tempestdirect.com/hidlicokit.html ) said they'll send me out another set of bulbs to try out, and I can return the "defective" ones.
Hopefully new bulbs will remedy the situation, will update when I find out.
It was not, but I was able to somewhat correct my problem.
Sorry for the late update, but what happened was I made the mistake of not removing this plastic spacer that was on the bulb prior to installing, so when I put it in, it was a super tight fit and when I forced it to click into place (in the headlight housing) it ended up warping the locking pins on the bulb itself, which caused it to be off balance, hence the upward glaring of my lights.
I replaced the bulbs with new ones and took out the little plastic spacer ring, and now my lights are much better, but still has the outside curving, but not as extreme as before.
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